Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify 
“Elias Haslanger Meets Mike Sailors” is the culmination of a musical friendship spanning nearly two decades. An Austin, Texas-native, Haslanger turned his obsession with Charlie Parker into a robust career divided between Texas and New York—performing and recording with Maynard Ferguson, Ellis Marsalis and others. Upon his return to Austin, Elias and Mike would develop a super-simpatico musical partnership. Sailors would then move to New York shortly thereafter to lead a diverse career as trumpet player and arranger with Jazz at Lincoln Center and others. Sailors returned to Austin a decade later to teach at the University of Texas, joining Haslanger as two of the most respected elder statesmen on the Austin scene.

At age 18, Scottish jazz trumpeter Malcolm Strachan enrolled at Leeds College of Music and quickly immersed himself in the city’s vibrant acid jazz, funk and soul scene, making his recording debut in 1999 with The New Mastersounds. He’s since recorded and toured with Amy Winehouse, Corrine Bailey Rae, and jazz legend Lou Donaldson. He’s also a founder and existing band member of the UK band The Haggis Horns. Jazz was always musical passion but took a back seat to funk/soul/pop, which were the day jobs. Until now. “About Time” is his first Stateside album, nodding slightly to the late 1960s classic Blue Note Records jazz, where soul and funk beats are at the heart of the arrangements.

Also this week, NEA Jazz Master saxophonist David Liebman joins up with the CNY Jazz Orchestra of Syracuse, New York for “If a White Horse From Jerusalem…,” which features music composed by Bret Zvacek, the University of Iowa graduate who has been the musical director for the ensemble since 2005; San Francisco-based saxophonist and composer Patrick Wolff unveils his seventh release as a leader, “Bay Blue”; and pianist and composer Luther Allison, who has won a Grammy Award for his work with Samara Joy, makes his debut as a leader with “I Owe It All to You.”

Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify 

In 1989, George Benson collaborated with celebrated composer-arranger Robert Farnon and his orchestra to create “Dreams Do Come True,” with Farnon’s lush arrangements perfectly complementing Benson’s soulful vocals and fluid guitar work on a program of American standards and reimagined pop classics. The recording was made during a prolific period in Benson’s career and the decision was made to delay the album’s release. In the meantime, the recordings went missing and remained lost until recently, when they were discovered in Benson’s archives. Now, after 35 years, the album is finally receiving it proper release.

Saxophone titan Eric Alexander and keyboard maestro Mike LeDonne have come together for an incredible duo record. With the two principals featured in both solo and duo formats, “Together” is tethered by the supreme musicianship for which LeDonne and Alexander are known, as well as the comfortable tug of trust and bandstand familiarity. Featuring both original compositions and standards, the recording showcases a special musical dialog between these two modern masters whose long-standing friendship and talent enables them to communicate with a kind of musical clairvoyance.

Also this week, Lakecia Benjamin, who wowed the crowd at the Iowa City Jazz Festival last month, unveils “Phoenix Reimagined,” recorded live for a studio audience; alto saxophonist and composer Markus Howell returns with his second disc as a leader, “Chosen Path”; and the cool-toned Danish saxophonist and composer Jan Harbeck, playing a Selmer Balanced Action tenor once owned by Stan Getz, convenes his quartet for “Balanced.”